liz: good afternoon, everybody. i am liz claman. "countdown to the closing bell" starts right now. stocks rose out of the gate perhaps in the thoughts washington is moving closer to a budget deal. this time yesterday, that is what we had for you. the gains have disappeared. we have been down more than 67 points. the nasdaq losing seven here. s&p 500 down seven, but now we're off of that level everybody was talking about the last two days. the market was near the highs in the middle of the day. they put the timeline together for you. the president got in front of

the cameras saying he would reject the spending and tax plan put together by speaker of the house john boehner. and by 45 minutes ago. he said he senses a ball is in the president's court adding he hopes the president will get serious about a balanced approach. all kinds of volatility with investors hanging on every word out of washington. general motors, take a look, turning on the afterburners, shares jumping as you can see more than 6%. repurchasing 200 million shares. gm need a bailout once the financial crisis hit. officially becoming a standalone company. market and investors really like now let's take a look at crude oil. four straight days of gains,

getting back near $90 per barrel, $0.03 away, the story a couple of things actually. optimism of a debt deal, also supplies, heating oil, unexpectedly fell last week so of course supplies go down. on the flipside natural gas moving down more than 2% rating yesterday's gains and then some. all right, so much for any kind of game we were seeing today, but what happens tomorrow, are we still tied into the headline news out of d.c.? >> speaker john boehner woke us up. i expected after the brief statement that he made the market would come in much more than it has. i am kind of impressed we haven't seen the market down quite significantly. it means we will look at a nice year-end rally. liz: all w he did was speak 45

seconds. we are coming off of two days of double-digit jumps in the dow jones industrial in the rearview mirror. but let me quickly ask you, volatility of about six or 7% depending on what second you're looking at it when a day for most of it the market was meandering. >> remember where we are at. coming at the end of the year, a lot of traders have hung up their books, does not take much to move the market one way or another. i do agree, this market is a santa claus rally. the market saying fiscal cliff, so what. more income means spending cuts and the politicians will eventually get it together. playing poker with each other, john boehner hurt the market when he said the market will take a nosedive tomorrow. this will go back and forth and

every day do we have a settlement, don't we? there are higher taxes, spending cuts. a degree of how much. liz: i look at this and i say wait a minute, the financial sector is looking at best it has seen since 2003. you have the financials rallying, does that mean you have a very significant rally? >> yacht, you do. the market are trying to build in higher interest rates, growth in china, europe has itself under control in america is about to. they are the leaders right now. liz: are we at $90?f course thet session. >> we are right there, but i will stick with my gun and say what we said last year. i am a buyer at 85, that is

supply and demand thing. with the market the way we are at the end of the year, low volume tends to get in the way. i think financials getting spiked over the year, more of a rally tomorrow but i will stick with my gun, don't think you'll miss the move if you don't get in here at the dollars going forward. i am a buyer at 85, a seller at 90. liz: more than $0.50 away. when we started we were $0.03 away. >> it is a lot easier than it looks, good luck selling $90. liz: $89.51 at the moment. thanks to everybody on the floor show. we'll watch the market so carefully but when you pick apart individual stories the one that has captured the attention of this nation today in a very big way is the facebook

instagram story. dollar signs dancing is now turned blurry after a massive pr misstep causing a near revolt giving competitors glittery eyed. facebook-instagram announced a major change in the policy. to help deliver interesting paid or sponsored content promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, like this, for those with paid or sponsored content or promotions without any compensation to you. instagram sending users running. did facebook revenue baby just blow it with mark some wonderi wondering. they are now down about $0.23 on the session. joining us now in a fox business exclusive from dallas, texas, senior analyst. did facebook just blow it?

>> look, understand the concerns are being talked about in the media, but i really think this is being blown out of proportion here. several things to keep in mind, this is right now something that instagram has just started talking about, this has not been introduced yet, it is 30 days away. i don't know if you got a chance to read the blog post from the ceo of instagram, but they made it clear they will not be selling people's photos. liz: they were very clear when they came out saying you won't get paid, we will allow advertisers to use it. and then you have the cofounder come out and said we are listening to you, thank you, we have no intentions. intention is a very dicey work, lot of room for interpretation. i heard they lost more than 1 million accounts canceled. hard to get any numbers because facebook is not break out the

instagram, but it is one of the top trending twitter subjects and it seems people, front page of the business section in "the new york times," front page of the "wall street journal," blowing it out of proportion? >> our last report had something like 100 million users of instagram. anything that affects instagram touches a lot of people. it is still very popular. sure there is some loss of users near term after they detach themselves from twitter, but ultimately this is a business. investors should be focused on the fact facebook is trying to find ways to monetize, but they are smart, they will not jeopardize the user experience, they're better than that. they know if users have a problem with something, they will fix that. they have done these things in the past. user policies have evolved over time and will continue to

evolve. important thing is they reacted very quickly, they did not wait for a week or 10 days for this to get a life of its own. it's still good, but ultimately one thing that caught my attention was the response that they will not be selling photos. their intention is if you are a business and you want to be able to use some of the data from instagram, with your permission they can use some of that data for the advertiser, but it is a business, they have to do that. liz: acting like a business in a way that loses you business could be a big problem. already people said they were jumping to flickr. these are companies all benefiting at the moment. charter flight might do if we don't think twitter is going to start beefing up the photo sharing and that might hurt

instagram and facebook. they arthey're allowed to do whr they can, this is so reminiscent of bank of america a year and a half ago now said they would start charging for atm use. there was such an outcry, people were cutting off their cards, other competitors said we won't charge you in the lost business. do you think instagram will back down from this policy? >> i think they will do it in a way that doesn't affect the user experience. right now it looks like a very big deal. i am not downplaying it, it is a big deal, but if you look at the parent company, facebook, and if you think about the philosophy the company has had, the foundation it was built on was users come first and has facebook made mistakes in the past? of course they have, but look at where they are today. instagram ultimately will stand on the effectiveness of what it

offers to consumers and the privacy policy does have some near-term impact that i think they will fix it. some people will leave, but more people ultimately will come back more directly with the instagram. twitter or flickr, other websites might benefit from that, still i think in the long run instagram will remain a strong company. liz: thank you so much. i pulled my 11 year old account. they announced it in the school, said watch out, instagram will make your photos public. even if that is not true now, the word is out. thank you so much. senior analyst saying we are maybe making too big of this. i don't know, you can see the stock reversing halfway through the session. the closing bell ringing and 50 minutes. the best of 2009. sean matthews, ceo of of the broker financial services, says the bull run is not over.

far from it. lookout, 2013. what that means for deals and trading your investment next on a fox business exclusive. stay tuned. i always wait until the last minute.

can i still ship a gift in time r christmas? yeah, sure you can. great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery. ♪ [ male announcer ] they are a glowing example of what it means to be the best. a at this special time of year, they shine even brighter. come to the winter event and get the mercedes-benz you've always wished for, now for an exceional price. [ santa ] ho, ho, ho, ho! male announcer ] lease a 2013 glk350 for $399 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer.

we go! at your local we're gonna make some juice! woman: it's gonna be good! she's excited. little bit of kale. please don't put this online. woman: i'm putting it all over the line! it's wet. it needs something. no, it'll go. woman: don't break my juicer! looks good. you ready to try it? woman: come on, baby! announcer: challenge your kids to active and eat healthy. it's ok. it's ok! all right! announcer: they might surprise you. she took another sip. you saw it? announcer: search "we can" for more ideas on how you and your kids can get healthy together.

liz: you're loving it if you own oracle. giving the investors the nice surprises, one week chart up 4%. the software may care delivered better-than-expected second-quarter results, sales and earnings topped street estimates. seeing the shares jumping 4%, but what a great year it has been for oracle. the stock just under $25, not a bad move. the key to the beat from last night, license revenue. this is a gauge of deals in the pipeline rising 18% in the second quarter, double the analyst estimates. saying the hardware business, microsystems will turn the corner. a quick three year chart to give you perspective, it has been choppy, of course. in 2010 a bigger problem. stocks getting a boost from oracle. you can see a little bit here.

but lauren simonetti looking at the names linked to oracle. lauren: you got that right. putting in a strong performance today because they like what oracle said about the software sales. they generate higher contracts, and many seeing games because of oracle. about a 5% gain, all really good days. when the market is lower and pushing lower. thank you. liz: thank you very much, lauren simonetti. so many of you went into treasuries, so scared, right? full 2013 the new year retail investors finally return to the equity markets taking some cash off the sidelines? sean matthewshawn matthews fromr fitzgerald, joining us with the

big 2013 outlook. this is all you think about. what is your outlook for 2013? >> a low inflationary, low interest rates, a very good return. liz: up 16, 17%. >> if we get back to normalize world, it is still a very good number. we'll have look at the treasury market and be concerned about at the end of next year. liz: tommy the signs of stress when you see xyz, which are you looking for? >> the fed has begun to demonstrate that. if you upon the great tips within the handle, you have to start to look at the current seeping out. are they little bit at the end of this year. liz: you said a six handle, the

fed has a 6.6%, they will not tighten until that. but it becomes a worry, they will tighten and that might clamp down on treasuries or equities? speak what will be treasuries. everybody in safe assets, but when you really look at the duration and the treasury curve, there is a lot of risk out there. liz: are there sectors you particularly like that are poised to do well? >> they're interesting. they will be good performers in the next year as well, technology, i think beta will do well, with a fixed income side, still think people getting at the mortgage space and high yield still has some return talking six, 7% yield. having the treasury market will be a tough space next year. liz: housing has looked very good, not trading over? >> not at all.

looking at it from the 90s style economy, that is actually the norm. we are going back in time, looking at the asset classes like you used to in the past. liz: if i heard this once over the last 10 years, and hol heart a million times. you think japan is going to do well? >> you're looking at it from a standpoint of global dollars trying to figure out where they can go and get returns. japan is an interesting place. liz: i don't know if you've seen it, but looks very good, not a bad move. the gdp has not had any growth over the past 20 years, basically flat but when you look at the new leadership, just brand-new elected prime minister, tappin type in the puc sector work and doing

infrastructure. >> it gets into the economy and you will not have significant growth. think about it from the 1990s perspective, u.s., two and a half, 3% growth is pretty good growth. you have to look at it and balance is based on those perceptions, and japan will do pretty good the next couple of years. liz: when you start to look at exactly what he said, looking for the next opportunity, and with the young weaker against the dollar, you're seeing a possibility they could upgrade exports. >> i definitely agree. liz: you go to electronics or insurance companies? >> it is a little bit hard because there is still a balance sheet issues. electronics and technologies are still the place to be. liz: any chance we look at a fiscal cliff that is so bad that we dip back into recession?

are you modeling that at all? >> i don't think so. you've already seen a little give and take, getting closer to the middle, so there will be a deal done even if it goes into january it will not be that big of a deal. cheryl: youliz: your response? don't go all in into anything. liz: you feel a percent or 9% is a real possibility? that is just dead money, isn't it? >> the risk is in the asset reports, so treasury market was a great place to be for an extended period of time. you want to be avoiding the asset class. liz: currencies, everybody thinks the stock market is huge, the bond market is even bigger. karen c. three, $4 trillion market largely unrequited.

if their currencies and is >> everything is based around the euro. the last few weeks has had a good run, but the dollar better against the euro. all the peripheral countries, a few that will dictate what happens. liz: happy holidays. >> same to you. liz: good to see you. the closing bell ringing in 38 minutes. here's a question or need you to listen to. can an app make your kids smarter? the hot new ipad app that helps your preschoolers learn and have fun at the same time. creating leos pad, known as

edutainment. you've got to hear about this. copd makes it hard to breathe,

but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly impre lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair ctains both an anti-inflammatory

and a long-acting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair y have a highechance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com.

to the number 1 club in the world. the potential of manchester united unlocked. nyse euronext. unlocking the world's potential.

as package shares of two shipping giant, look at fedex moving slightly higher by $1.42 after second quarter revenue beat expectations. fedex, downbeat outlook, backing gets -- fedex tends to do this, they underpromise, shares of ubs up 1%. and 1 thirty-five million packages this week alone culminating with twenty-eight million deliveries tomorrow. maybe some of them will be my

next product, kid focused start ups are rapidly growing in an industry that has a lot of people looking at the fact, the basic reality that and ipad or tablet will be the first computer and entire generation of little kids will be using. leo's hat is at the forefront of that movement. the co-founder and ceo joining me in a fox business exclusive. i learn so much studying about this. you have little episodes people can download it, you are on the itunes and callous about leo's half and leo is leonardo da vinci. >> we were keen on making sure we could help children learn, have fun and become better learners and that is why we have got creating something visually stunning based on the best practice in terms of storytelling would be the right ingredients to engage them. liz: let's show people how

visually stunning and its stunning. these animated episodes are so colorful, bright and creative, somebody in writing about it called it picks areask. >> my previous company does spectacular work for the world, our partner in this product. let me get it going. so -- imagine a child being invited into this world, we're shattering the fourth wall. and directly to the child, which is new. liz: i can tell you we were baby einstein, they talk to the kids but there was no quick or drag. >> we were taking advantage and that way we can track the lerner's ability and have them

adapt real time to their abilities. liz: let's talk about that. the second two are $1.99. is that the get people to adopt? >> what we are going to give parents, where they can engage with their child and understand what is important in terms of learning dimensions we are tracking which are over 100. liz: what do kids learn on this? >> what a lot of apps focus on is blocking and tackling academics, numbers, shapes, colors. what we're focused on basic research from stanford university is the more cognitive areas in terms of the executive function, delayed gratification, input control. liz: delayed gratification. >> steve, those killed early on the was all are phenomenal. liz: let me show you and our viewers the money, you have a bunch of money in silicon

valley, they absolutely love you. you have everybody -- these guys are putting in a ton of money. what is your next funding round? >> the launch code as it is currently we are self funded and if we're looking at a queue 2 -- liz: if leapfrog or disney or somebody -- wanted to buy you would you allow it? >> probably not. only because for us to disrupt education away we want to we have to have a long-term business, we have to keep control and we have to wait for the schools to adopt our technology and i don't think the bigger companies will do that. liz: they have stanford professors on staff putting together the content of this. here are the entertainment competitors. look for leo's tab. the itunes apps is right there and we would like to see how many download your getting. >> had a great time being here.

liz: the co-founder and ceo. closing bell ringing in 28 minutes. this is a new one. a ceo at a major bank actually trying to make sure the brokers don't get their year end bonuses cuts. he is saving the bonuses. charlie gasparino had a latest about the executive with a little heart.

liz: j.c. penney in the green yet again today. let's go to lauren simonetti for the details. this rally keeps going. >> we're going to take you to

the post where you can see it is up by 4% but retail overall is doing well. j.c. penney is part of that rally for the year. j.c. penney stocks down 40%, that is ugly. another abercrombie and fitch executive to transform j.c. penney more. so far they have achieved supply officer and chief technology officer coming from member probably. there will be a nice experience. liz: my baby sitter said i'm going to j.c. penney and i thought she said i am over teach amax and going to j.c. penney. target is too cool. how is this for christmas present?

bank of america's merrill lynch brokerage unit looking to save money by cutting broker compensation? you heard that before but not if brian moynihan has his way. charlie gasparino on the c e o who is saving bonuses. charlie: it is unusual to cut broker compensation. there's a lot of competition from brokers. recently inside merrill lynch's brokerage department run by john field disease to be the biggest brokerage department in the world. morgan stanley has surpassed it given the smith barney acquisition but merrill lynch is still considered the premier brokerage department on wall street. recently in an effort to save money, looking to cut costs, did something unusual, put out a new grid, proposed a new grid that would drastically reduce broker compensation. everybody -- the rumor on wall street for years was brian moynihan hated brokers, the ceo

brought the merrill lynch unit, at his predecessor, in charge of the brokerage unit and lots of talk. so he could be essentially -- wanted to keep the broker compensation high so he could put brokers on some sort of salary, something they would hate. it looks like it is not even that. he is not going to go there been even better came to their defense. interesting story that brian moynihan next the proposal from john to drastically lower broker compensation. why did he do that? in his words, direct knowledge of the situation is he wants to continue to coach brokers from morgan stanley who has its own problems. morgan stanley's technology problems, brokerage teams are leaving morgan stanley because of that. in order to capitalize on that he came to the rescue saying no, they put out a new grid, it lasted until next year.

the payment ridge, they made get -- on commissions. there is a grid it tells you how much money you produce to buy a stock. what percentage of that do i keep. and the same as it was last year, not drastically lowered, because brian moynihan basically said you can't do it, essentially at war, the biggest behind-the-scenes battles on wall street is the battle to poach brokers. i do cover the weeds of wall street. a lot of reviewers work on wall street. your broker can switch for terms at any time. these are going on. liz: these guys might say merrill is keeping a straight but their compensation structure may lure tough challenge. charlie: that would hurt morgan stanley if you are a -- the

business model is based on a broker's producing more, becoming a bigger part of the pie, not taking much risk, brokers dealing with small investors, leaving to merrill lynch and other places and this is one reason they might, the brokerage is the same, that will hurt morgan stanley stock price when you look at those, pretty ugly stuff. liz: they have been great performers. charlie: brokers -- liz: the start of 2012 -- charlie: look at that a little closer. since august, we have the run of. liz: january to april was nice to. do you remember the days where at the stock exchange companies like harry winston used to set up pop up stores so these guys could get their bonuses and literally walked a pop-up for 4?

charlie: i don't remember that. liz: 1998-1999. charlie: the heyday of the broker was the floor broker. i believe that was later. [talking over each other] charlie: right before the stock exchange. liz: charlie gasparino fox business exclusive, thanks to brian moynihan. brokerage compensation. charlie: everybody else gets screwed this year. sorry. liz: thank you very much. we need to talk about gun stocks. smith and wesson, these names are rallying today after three days of huge dive following last week's shooting murders in connecticut. private equity firm server putting its investment in a semi-automatic weapons co. on the block. who is next? your pension fund jettison these names? atop a trustee of new york's

largest pension, about to break news on fox business. he will demand the fund get rid of all the exposure to the gun industry.

liz: take a look at solar stocks shining brightly today. more news out of china, its cabinet saying you will reform the industry and they and governments from supporting failing domestic companies. that has occurred in the past u.s. solar companies because it is an unfavorable landscape but you see these names of looking good. guggenheim solar e t f 5% today and up 35% over the past month

alone. these things are very volatile, got to be careful. less than a week after the connecticut shooting that killed 26 including 20 very young children, done stocks which the a huge dive over the past three days are making a come back from their initial pull back of starting on friday now all for a trustee of new york city's largest public pension is calling for the fund to get out of guns. joining me in a first on fox business interviews new york city public advocate bill believe you. ; ram your hand. told a. >> i send this to initiate divestment actions from all five city pension funds with combined assets of $115 billion and it is time to get out of the gun industry. i said as a parent and public servant. this is a watershed moment in american history. it is tragic that it took this to bring us to the understanding we had to change things the weekend along with business as usual.

the fact this tragic young man had access to a legal military grade assault rifle says it all. pension-funds around this country, and $80 million in investment in the gun industry unfortunately have added to this normalcy of the situation. time to change that. liz: these are for firefighters, and police officers, teachers -- [talking over each other] liz: have you heard from teachers? >> i have heard from all sorts of new yorkers who think it is time for a change. if not now, when? michael bloomberg has been on target calling for changes in the federal legislation and pushing the president would the president needs to be pushed but there's something else we can do which is change business as usual and how we invest. liz: it is the almighty dollar. when you pull the money you start to see real action. this letter is to john lou, the comptroller of new york. what kind of action do you suspect? >> we're talking to him,

january 22nd is the next meeting of the pension funds and we of the divested action will be initiated. liz: you straddle a thin line here. you have shareholders importance here. you have to think about your pensioners. these gun stocks have done very well since the start of the year since this disgusting and horrifying shooting. how do you straddle that line and say we would rather give up profits in this way and find it somewhere else? >> we see the volatility of stocks, there's a question about how good their investment a are going forward but we do have plenty of other good options and we can contribute something that makes our society were sandwich is true for urban areas. it is time for this kind of change. the people are demanding it and i hope other pension funds around the country will follow suit. we will reach out and ask for the same. liz: what other pension holdings? is it just a firearm companies? smith and wesson or is it also the ammunition? a company called reliance

holding ammunition, is this what you hold? >> but then companies and ammunitionmakers and anyone who makes the military great weapons available on the domestic market. as the core of the problem here. there are a number of firms and this is an example -- we also have to look at. liz: we should remember it owns the company that made the bushmaster, the gun that was used in connecticut to murder 20 children and six adults including brilliant teachers, this is horrifying to keep that in mind. $18 million in gun holdings for multibillion-dollar pension funds. does it make a statement or difference? >> the other pension funds of this country, the public pension funds which combine when you talk state and local defined benefits,$.5 trillion in assets. if we work in unison nationwide will make a big impact. liz: massachusetts is looking into this as far as the pensions are concerned.

do we risk for getting as the days go by? because you have not heard -- we heard from senator joe mentioned that you have not heard from republicans speaking out. our colleagues at nbc, joe scarborough went on iran saying weather are the republicans speaking out about this? do we need to hear from politicians in a shorter period of time about what is going to happen? >> we absolutely do. this is a watershed moment. this is a crossing of the rubicon. we will fix the problem of guns in this country here and now or lose this moment and we will lose more children. that is the blunt reality. whether it is in city streets, gangs or a horrible shooting like this. republicans should stand up and save reasonable gun control, the kind mayor bloomberg is calling for, reasonable gun control now. we can't have business as usual. that is why is so important to have the dollars and cents approach. people have to know that we have leaders are responding on every level to protect our children. liz: you worked hard for this to

divest all gun stocks. this is a letter sent to john luke, comptroller of new york first on fox business, at the quince -- trustee, $40 billion in assets in the pension fund. keep us posted. it will be news, thank you very much. closing bell ringing in seven minutes. in the next hour we have don woods, ceo and president of federal realty investment trust, he is bullish on commercial rates but has one big concern you need to hear about from a year dividend lovers, but first we're counting down the final minutes, take a closer look at bed, bath and beyond as it gets set to report news "after the bell". get your coupons ready. i always wait until the last minute.

can i still ship a gift in me r christmas? yeah, sure you ca great. where's your gift? uh... whew. [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. ship fedex express by december 22nd for christmas delivery.

he loves risk. but whether he's climbing everest, scuba diving the great barrier reef with sharks, or jumping into the marke he goes with people he trusts, which is why he trades with a company that doesn't nickel and dime him with hidden fees. so he can worry about other things, like what the market is doioig and being ready, no matter what happens, which isn't rocket science. it's just common sense, from td ameritrade.

>> last couple of minutes, at the lows, down 92 points, but we're waiting on bed, bath, and beyond. it is important to watch this stock can understand a little bit of history today in the last two quarters they have reported down 17% after earnings and down 10% after earnings so there's a little bit of history where the stock tends to fall after earnings reports. we are not saying that will happen this time, we're waiting to hear on those numbers but the stock down nine pennies or a small fraction of a percent. we will see after the bell, david asman is watching all of it. david: we may edge close to session lows. there are some individual stocks doing very well. let's talk about fedex, we saw some nice earning reports on fedex even with the slide at the end of the day still up over a percentage of a point.

lauren: b.s. would've the impact of hurricane sandy, the expectations and looking at a record in terms of holiday she rents that is probably giving investors some hope and that is why the stock is up today. liz: they're getting out of gm, current investors, now look at it, the government's hand will be out of the company moving more like a publicly traded stock. >> into the next 15 months the government will likely be completely out of gm and that is why general motors hit an annual high today. david: we're looking at a very broad fall, it is not that deep of a fall, but all the sectors are involved. looking at technology, we spotted a couple of winners. western digital and